Separation of active and passive components of short-range stiffness of muscle

1977 ◽  
Vol 232 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Morgan

The short-range stiffness of smoothly but submaximally contracting isometric soleus muscles of anesthetised cats was measured by applying small fast stretches. The ratio of isometric tension to stiffness was plotted against tension over a wide range of muscle lengths and stimulus rates. The results fitted a straight line well, as predicted from crossbridge theory, showing the stiffness to be a function of tension only, independent of the combination of length and stimulus rate used to generate the tension. The major deviation from this line was attributed to incomplete fusion at low frequencies of stimulation. Values believed to be tendon compliance and crossbridge tension per unit of stiffness were found from the graph, and the tendon compliance correlated with the maximum muscle tension. Shortening the tendon by attaching nearer to the muscle changed the results in a manner consistent with the theory, provided that appropriate precautions were taken against slippage.

1984 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Proske ◽  
D. L. Morgan

Experiments have been carried out on the soleus muscle and its tendon in the anesthetized cat. Measurements of isometric tension and muscle stiffness were made during contraction of whole or part of the muscle in response to stimulation of ventral root filaments. In an attempt to determine the distribution of tension in different portions of the tendon during activation of only part of the muscle, the free tendon of insertion was split longitudinally into two halves and a strain gauge attached to each piece. From a large number of measurements, it was found that the mean fraction of tension recorded in one-half of the tendon remained about the same, over a wide range of tensions. However, the scatter of values, which increased as the portion of muscle contracting was reduced, was greater than expected if muscle fibers were randomly distributed throughout the muscle. Measurements of muscle and tendon stiffness were made from length and tension changes during stretch of the actively contracting muscle. Ventral root stimulation that engaged 20% or more of the muscle yielded a value for tendon compliance (0.09 mm/N), which was the same as for stimulating the whole muscle. This result suggested that for contraction of portions as small as 20% of the muscle, fibers were effectively attached to the whole tendon, indicating that tendinous attachments of individual muscle fibers ran independent of one another over only a short distance and were bound together over most of their remaining course. It was concluded that groups of muscle fibers selected by stimulation of ventral root filaments are not entirely randomly distributed throughout the muscle. However, for groups representing larger fractions of the total tension, (greater than 20%) the distribution is uniform enough and the connections between their tendinous attachments firm enough for the force applied by such a group to act through a tendon compliance, which is the same as that seen by the whole muscle.


1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 494-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Botterman ◽  
G. A. Iwamoto ◽  
W. J. Gonyea

Single motor units of the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscle were activated with a series of constant-rate stimulus trains to study the relation between the frequency of activation and isometric tension development (F-T relation). The tension produced by each stimulus train was expressed as a percentage of the maximum tension-time area (Amax) found for a given unit. Between 25 and 75% Amax a clear separation was seen in the rates needed to produce the same relative tension for the F-T curves of slow-twitch (type S) and fast-twitch (type F) units. Over the steepest portion of the F-T curve (25-50% Amax), where tension output was most sensitive to changes in activation rate, type F units required substantially higher stimulation rates (30 pps) to achieve the same relative tension output as type S units. Furthermore, the frequency range that corresponded to the steep portion of the curve was 2.3 times greater for type F units. For both type S and F units, twitch duration was deemed to be an important determinant of the F-T curve, as has been shown previously. A direct continuous relation was seen between the integrated twitch time (ITT) and the stimulus interval needed to produce 50% Amax (r = 0.94, P less than 0.001). Thus, units that had relatively brief twitches required higher activation rates to achieve the same relative percentage of Amax. Comparison of F-T curves from FCR with those derived by other investigators for cat hindlimb units (medial gastrocnemius and peroneus longus) revealed that significant differences in activation rates were needed to produce the same percentage of Amax throughout the midrange of the F-T curve. At 50% Amax, type F units in FCR required activation rates approximately 20 pps higher than type F units in the hindlimb. Type S units in FCR required only slightly higher rates (approximately equal to 5 pps). Based on a number of well-founded assumptions, F-T curves derived from FCR units were used to estimate the potential contribution of rate coding to total muscle tension by type S and F units. This analysis leads to the conclusion that rate modulation is a potentially important factor in the gradation of tension for the FCR muscle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1198 (1) ◽  
pp. 012006
Author(s):  
S V Kalashnikov ◽  
N A Romanov ◽  
A V Nomoev

Abstract Installation designed to measure the dielectric anisotropy in laboratory studies of liquid crystal polymer films is described. The installation operates on the principle of a balanced alternating current (AC) bridge, allowing the application of a direct external current (bias) to the liquid crystal cell. The internal resistance of the direct current (DC) source, which affects the equilibrium condition of the bridge, is compensated. The frequency of the AC current feeding the bridge and the offset voltage of the cell is regulated within a wide range, which makes it possible to study various functional dependences of the dielectric parameters of liquid crystals and their modifiers.Introduction


1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Mather

It has been known for over 30 years that motion information alone is sufficient to yield a vivid impression of three-dimensional object structure. For example, a computer simulation of a transparent sphere, the surface of which is randomly speckled with dots, gives no impression of depth when presented as a stationary pattern on a visual display. As soon as the sphere is made to rotate in a series of discrete steps or frames, its 3-D structure becomes apparent. Three experiments are described which use this stimulus, and find that depth perception in these conditions depends crucially on the spatial and temporal properties of the display: 1. Depth is seen reliably only for between-frame rotations of less than 15°, using two-frame and four-frame sequences. 2. Parametric observations using a wide range of frame durations and inter-frame intervals reveal that depth is seen only for inter-frame intervals below 80 msec and is optimal when the stimulus can be sampled at intervals of about 40–60 msec. 3. Monoptic presentation of two frames of the stimulus is sufficient to yield depth, but the impression is destroyed by dichoptic presentation. These data are in close agreement with the observed limits of direction perception in experiments using “short-range” stimuli. It is concluded that depth perception in the motion display used in these experiments depends on the outputs of low-level or “short-range” motion detectors.


2006 ◽  
Vol 984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Guerry ◽  
Donna L Carroll ◽  
Phillips N Gunawidjaja ◽  
Prodipta Bhattacharya ◽  
Daniela Carta ◽  
...  

AbstractTo understand amorphous and structurally disordered materials requires the application of a wide-range of advanced physical probe techniques and herein a combined methodology is outlined. The relatively short-range structural sensitivity of solid state NMR means that it is a core probe technique for characterizing such materials. The aspects of the solid state NMR contribution are emphasized here with examples given from a number of systems, with especial emphasis on the information available from 17O NMR in oxygen-containing materials. 17O NMR data for crystallization of pure sol-gel prepared oxides is compared, with new data presented from In2O3 and Sc2O3. Sol-gel formed oxide mixtures containing silica have been widely studied, but again the role and effect of the other added oxide varies widely. In a ternary ZrO2-TiO2-SiO2 silicate sol-gel the level of Q4 formation is dependent not only on the composition, as expected, but also the nature of the second added oxide. Sol-gel formed phosphates have been much less widely studied than silicates and some 31P NMR data from xerogel, sonogel and melt-quench glasses of the same composition are compared. The effect of small amounts of added antibacterial copper on phosphate glass networks is also explored.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Gopalan ◽  
Gautam Gaddemane ◽  
Maarten L. Van de Put ◽  
Massimo V. Fischetti

The absence of a band gap in graphene makes it of minor interest for field-effect transistors. Layered metal chalcogenides have shown great potential in device applications thanks to their wide bandgap and high carrier mobility. Interestingly, in the ever-growing library of two-dimensional (2D) materials, monolayer InSe appears as one of the new promising candidates, although still in the initial stage of theoretical studies. Here, we present a theoretical study of this material using density functional theory (DFT) to determine the electronic band structure as well as the phonon spectrum and electron-phonon matrix elements. The electron-phonon scattering rates are obtained using Fermi’s Golden Rule and are used in a full-band Monte Carlo computer program to solve the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) to evaluate the intrinsic low-field mobility and velocity-field characteristic. The electron-phonon matrix elements, accounting for both long- and short-range interactions, are considered to study the contributions of different scattering mechanisms. Since monolayer InSe is a polar piezoelectric material, scattering with optical phonons is dominated by the long-range interaction with longitudinal optical (LO) phonons while scattering with acoustic phonons is dominated by piezoelectric scattering with the longitudinal (LA) branch at room temperature (T = 300 K) due to a lack of a center of inversion symmetry in monolayer InSe. The low-field electron mobility, calculated considering all electron-phonon interactions, is found to be 110 cm2V−1s−1, whereas values of 188 cm2V−1s−1 and 365 cm2V−1s−1 are obtained considering the long-range and short-range interactions separately. Therefore, the calculated electron mobility of monolayer InSe seems to be competitive with other previously studied 2D materials and the piezoelectric properties of monolayer InSe make it a suitable material for a wide range of applications in next generation nanoelectronics.


1982 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 797-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Cordo ◽  
W. Z. Rymer

1. Subdivided portions of the cut ventral root innervation of the soleus muscle were electrically stimulated in 14 anesthetized cats. The stimulus trains imposed on these nerves simulated the recruitment and rate-modulation patterns of single motor units recorded during stretch-reflex responses in decerebrate preparations. Each activation pattern was evaluated for its ability to prevent muscle yield. 2. Three basic stimulus patterns, recruitment, step increases in stimulus rate, and doublets were imposed during the course of ramp stretches applied over a wide range of velocities. The effect of each stimulus pattern on muscle force was compared to the force output recorded without stretch-related recruitment or rate modulation. 3. Motor-unit recruitment was found to be most effective in preventing yield during muscle stretch. Newly recruited motor units showed no evidence of yielding for some 250 ms following activation, at which time muscle stiffness declined slightly. This time-dependent resistance to yield was observed regardless of whether the onset of the neural stimulus closely preceded or followed stretch onset. 4. Step increases in stimulus rate arising shortly after stretch onset did not prevent the occurrence of yield at most stretch velocities, but did augment muscle stiffness later in the stretch. Doublets in the stimulus train were found to augment muscle stiffness only when they occurred in newly recruited motor units. 5. These results suggest that at low or moderate initial forces, the prevention of yield in lengthening, reflexively intact muscle results primarily from rapid motor-unit recruitment. To a lesser extent, the spring-like character of the stretch-reflex response also derives from step increases in firing rate of motor units active before stretch onset and doublets in units recruited during the course of stretch. Smooth rate increases appear to augment muscle force later in the course of the reflex response.


1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald A. van Buuren ◽  
Joost M. Festen ◽  
Reinier Plomp

The long-term average frequency spectrum of speech was modified to 25 target frequency spectra in order to determine the effect of each of these spectra on speech intelligibility in noise and on sound quality. Speech intelligibility was evaluated using the test as developed by Plomp and Mimpen (1979), whereas sound quality was examined through judgments of loudness, sharpness, clearness, and pleasantness of speech fragments. Subjects had different degrees of sensorineural hearing loss and sloping audiograms, but not all of them were hearing aid users. The 25 frequency spectra were defined such that the entire dynamic range of each listener, from dB above threshold to 5 dB below UCL, was covered. Frequency shaping of the speech was carried out on-line by means of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters. The tests on speech reception in noise indicated that the Speech-Reception Thresholds (SRTs) did not differ significantly for the majority of spectra. Spectra with high levels, especially at low frequencies (probably causing significant upward spread of masking), and also those with steep negative slopes resulted in significantly higher SRTs. Sound quality judgments led to conclusions virtually identical to those from the SRT data: frequency spectra with an unacceptably low sound quality were in most of the cases significantly worse on the SRT test as well. Because the SRT did not vary significantly among the majority of frequency spectra, it was concluded that a wide range of spectra between the threshold and UCL levels of listeners with hearing losses is suitable for the presentation of speech energy. This is very useful in everyday listening, where the frequency spectrum of speech may vary considerably.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 2507-2515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. R. Barclay

Habitat use, temporal activity, foraging behaviour, and prey selection of hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) and silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) were studied at Delta Marsh, Manitoba. Bat activity was assessed by monitoring echolocation calls with ultrasonic detectors. Prey availability was determined using sticky and Malaise traps and dietary information was obtained from fecal analysis. Both species were active all night and foraged primarily in the lee of a narrow forested ridge. Lasionycteris noctivagans foraged in a manner that indicates that it detects and pursues prey over short distances. These bats fly slowly, are highly manoeuverable, and were commonly observed feeding on swarms of insects in small clearings. They use echolocation calls that support the notion of a short-range foraging strategy and feed opportunistically on whatever insects are available. Lasiurus cinereus, on the other hand, uses a long-range prey detection and pursuit foraging strategy. They fly rapidly along straight line paths in open areas and use echolocation calls designed to detect insects at a distance. The diet consists primarily of large insects (moths, beetles, and dragonflies), but the bats nonetheless feed opportunistically. The foraging strategy likely restricts the availability and profitability of small insects as prey.


Author(s):  
Maduranga Amaratunga ◽  
Roar Nybø ◽  
Rune W. Time

Drilling fluids experience a wide range of shear rates and oscillatory motion while circulating through the well and also during the operations for solids control. Therefore, it is important to investigate the influence of oscillatory fields on the velocity profiles, shear rate and resulting rheological condition of non-Newtonian polymers, which are additives in drilling fluids. In this paper, we present the dynamic velocity profiles within both Newtonian (deionized water) and non-Newtonian liquids (Polyanionic Cellulose – PAC) exposed to oscillatory motion. A 15 cm × 15 cm square cross-sectional liquid column was oscillated horizontally with very low frequencies (0.75–1.75 Hz) using a laboratory made oscillating table. The dynamic velocity profiles at the bulk of the oscillating liquid column were visualized by the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) method, where the motion of fluid is optically visualized using light scattering “seeding” particles. Increased frequency of oscillations lead to different dynamic patterns and ranges of velocity-shear magnitudes. The experiments are part of a comprehensive study aimed at investigating the influence of low frequency oscillations on particle settling in non-Newtonian drilling fluids. It is discussed, how such motion imposed on polymeric liquids influences both flow dynamics as well as local settling velocities of cuttings particles.


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